[Album Review] Kanye West’s “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”

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[lastfm]Kanye West[/lastfm]’s genius is undeniable. Anyone willing to dispute it hasn’t really examined all the facets of Kanye West’s personality, which at times can be hard to synthesize.Here’s a man that endures the ebb and flow of success with the keen personal triumph of a true champion, including West’s resurgence into the media on his own terms during the promotion of his latest studio effort My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.It’s hard to question the potential of a man that is at the top of his game and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is no exception, West’s most carefully crafted album to date.[pullquote quote=”I made songs to please one person…MY MOM!!! I would think…would my mom like this song!” credit=”Kanye West on his new album”]If Kanye’s goal was to develop an album that was also a hip hopera he more than succeeded. The true genius of the “Runaway” music video was it’s ability to take small clips from each song on the album and tell a cohesive story about love, loss and the pursuit of happiness. This is clearly an album designed to be listened to front to back, no song better than the rest, but necessary in form and function to take the listener on a journey of words, ideas and sounds.Like the music video for “Runaway,” the album takes the listener on a journey fit for a king, perhaps, the king of pop at a crux of his own fame and the off putting power it holds over him. Sound familiar?More than the master craftmanship it took to develop the sound of each song are the collabroations that Kanye used to achieve extraordinary heights and powerful lows that peak throughout the album. Could “All Of The Lights” have really impacted without the help of [lastfm]Fergie[/lastfm] or [lastfm]Rihanna[/lastfm]?Cause the magic of each song is the combination and influence of all artists involved and it could have gone very poorly, and come across as trying too hard, but it doesn’t. It’s clearly been fine tuned by a master, hearty and meaty in terms of sound, but trimmed of any excess fat that may have ruined it.Some could argue that the epic sound and length of the songs make this album less suitable for radio, but that would be cutting short the magnificence of songs like “Hell Of A Life” which are defined by a synth that gives it the ability to be enjoyed in your car or at the club.Kanye knows his audience and more than that, he knows that they are sophisticated enough to enjoy something deeper and more experimental, evolving the traditional hip hop sound that’s become synonymous with rap. In fact, Kanye’s been quoted as saying he created each song keeping in mind if it would be something his mother would like:I made songs to please one person…MY MOM!!! I would think…would my mom like this song!We have to imagine, what would his mother like off his next album and the journey that Kanye will take to get there.My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy Tracklist: